Facebook's mobile app dominated in 2012

According to the latest stats from comScore,
Facebook was the most popular mobile app in the United States in 2012.
The Google Maps app held the top position until October, when Apple
rolled out its latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, and replaced the
built-in Google Maps app with its own, less accurate version.

Of course, Facebook also
had a hand in its own success. Its number of monthly unique visitors
rose steadily over the course of the year. In August, the company rolled
out a long overdue revamp of its iOS mobile app for iPhone and iPads,
significantly speeding up the launch, scroll and browsing times. User
reviews in Apple's App Store shot up as a result, and in December the
company followed up with a better version of its Android app.

Facebook started 2012
facing criticisms of its mobile strategy, and while there are still
lingering questions about how it will make money off of mobile, these
stats show its adept at transferring the Facebook experience to tablets
and smartphones.

People aren't just
opening their Facebook app the most, they're spending astonishingly
large chunks of time in the app, poking around and reading up on their
friends. The social network's app was the single largest, single app
time suck, accounting for 23% of the time people spend using mobile
apps, according to comScore. Instagram was a distant second accounting
for just 3% of the time people spend in apps. Google's app with the most
engagement was Gmail, but in total 10% of users' time was spent across
various Google apps.

The more interesting
story in the coming year might be Google's rise to dominate all mobile
platforms, not just its own Android operating system.

Facebook may have the No.
1 spot locked up, but Google apps account for the next five most
popular apps. After Maps, Google Play, Google Search, Gmail and YouTube
were the top apps on Android and iOS devices in December. Google only
re-released an iOS version of its Maps app in December, which could
continue to fight back and possibly overtake Facebook in 2013.

Apple's only app on the
list is iTunes, coming in at 8th place. Rounding out the top 10 list are
Pandora Radio, Cooliris and Yahoo! Messenger.